The Dream and the Tomb by Robert Payne Read Free Book Online Page B

and Italians under Rainald, about six thousand men, who imagined they would do even better. They marched beyond Nicaea to a fortress called Xerigordon, which was captured without any difficulty because it was undefended. Here they found all the provisions they could wish for. They would have been well advised to take the stores and hurry back to Civetot. Instead, they remained in the castle, enjoying their good fortune. Then, on September 21, 1096, the Turks arrived in force, surrounded the castle, and conquered it eight days later, massacring all those who refused to abjure their Christian faith. The unknown author of the
Gesta Francorum
describes the horrors of the siege:
    The Turks then invested the castle and cut off the water supply.
    Our men were terribly afflicted by thirst. They bled their horses and asses to drink the blood. Some let their belts and handker-chiefs down into a cistern, and squeezed the liquid into their mouths, while others urinated into their fellows’ cupped hands and drank. Still others dug up the moist earth and lay down on their backs and spread the earth over their breasts, being so dry with thirst. The bishops and priests encouraged our men and admonished them not to despair. . . .
    Then the commander of the Germans agreed to betray his companions to the Turks. Pretending to go out in order to fight them, he fled to them with many of his men. The remainder were put to death unless they were willing to betray God. Others, who had been captured alive, were divided among them, like sheep;and there were some who were put up as targets and shot with arrows, and still others they sold or gave away, like animals. And they took their prisoners to their own homes, to Khorasan, Antioch, or Aleppo, wherever they lived.
    These men were the first to endure blessed martyrdom in the name of the Lord Jesus.
    The army of the poor had suffered many disasters, but this was the worst. There remained one more disaster, and then the army would be destroyed forever as a fighting force.
    At Civetot the leaders of the army burned to avenge the disaster at Xerigordon. Peter was in Constantinople, and in any case he was powerless to influence any of the leaders. Geoffrey Burel had taken command, and it was on his advice that the Crusaders marched out against the enemy. There were about twenty thousand troops. The old men, women, and children were left behind at Civetot. They marched in six columns, with standards flying and trumpets blaring, making a good deal of noise, on their way to Nicaea, where they hoped to provoke the enemy into a pitched battle. It was early in the morning, and they were of good heart.
    Three miles from Civetot, the road to Nicaea entered a narrow wooded valley, where the Turks had posted scouts and were able to watch the progress of the army. Behind the scouts, in the plain beyond the valley, the Turkish army was waiting. By coincidence the Turks had decided on this day to attack Civetot and to destroy the camp and everyone in it, and they were overjoyed to see the Christians marching through the valley like lambs to the slaughter. They waited until the cavalry emerged from the valley. Then, their bowmen sent a shower of arrows into their midst. Many of the riders and many of the horses were maimed or killed, while the rest tried to flee back to Civetot. But there was no space to move in; the onward-marching infantry collided with the retreating cavalry, and the Turks, who enjoyed ambushes, raced through the woods and massacred the Christians with the greatest ease. Some fugitives reached Civetot with the Turks hard on their heels. Only about two hours had passed since the Christian army set out, and it was still early morning. A priest was celebrating mass; the Turks killed him on the altar. Some old men were still asleep in their beds. The Turks overturned the tents and went on killing, sparing only boys and girls with pleasing features who could be sold profitably into slavery.